ATS guns down Ahmedabad blast suspect, arrests two

Aurangabad/Mumbai: A suspect in the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts was killed and two of his accomplices arrested in an encounter with Maharashtra ATS today which also left a constable wounded at Aurangabad.

A shop owner takes a picture of a damaged shutter of his shop near the site of a bomb blast near Ahmedabad in September 2008. File photo. Reuters

The deceased has been identified as Khaleel, a resident of Gulmohar Colony in Ahmedabad, police said. The encounter occurred near Uddhav Rao Patil Chowk in Himayat Bagh area of the town around 12.30 pm, sources said.

Two accomplices of Khaleel, identified as Mohammed Shabbir and Abrar, were arrested in an injured condition after the encounter in which an ATS constable Sheikh Arif was also wounded.

All three have been admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital at Aurangabad, the sources said. One of the two arrested was also involved in the murder of a BJP activist, they said.

Ahmedabad was rocked by 21 bomb blasts in July 2008 within a span of 70 minutes in which 56 people were killed and over 200 injured.